After Liu Yong came back from Jilin last year, he reported every detail of his meeting with Zhao Xin. Among them, the most frightening thing for Qianlong was what Zhao Xin said at the end:
"In less than ten years, our red flag will be planted all over the mountains and rivers!"
As people get older, they sleep less. Over the past year, Qianlong often fell asleep in the middle of the night and woke up with a start.
In his dreams, he saw Zhao Xin leading his men into Beijing countless times, and Yongyan hanging on the coal mountain like Chongzhen. After that, the Beihai Navy dug up the tombs of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, smashed the bones and scattered ashes, and razed them to the ground.
flat ground.
Regardless of whether Zhao Xin's descendant of King Zhao is true or not, Qianlong believed that Zhao Xin would definitely avenge the former Ming clan, so as to prove the legitimacy of his legal system.
If he had no doubt before that he would definitely crush Zhao Xin and his Beihai Town, but when the Beihai Navy used less than ten thousand people to defeat Tsarist Russia, it expanded the territory for thousands of miles, and even captured the west of Baihar Lake.
Finally, Qianlong finally saw clearly what kind of opponent Beihai Town was.
Therefore, he must, at all costs, completely resolve this problem before he abdicates sixty years after ascending the throne.
As for whether the national treasury will be drained, he is not worried at all because he has raised a Heshen for his son.
Qianlong was also very helpless about his choice of crown prince Yongyan. What was different from another time and space was that due to the emergence of Beihai Town, Qianlong had nineteen sons so far, and only seven were alive.
The eighth son of the emperor, Yongxuan, did not behave properly and was not popular; the eleventh elder brother Yongxuan preferred literary affairs; the twelfth elder brother was born to the Ulanala family, and Qianlong did not like it; the seventeenth elder brother Yonglin was too young; as for the first two
Not to mention the two sons who were just born this year.
So among the generals, Yongyan stood out. But the problem was that although Yongyan had a calm personality and was kind-hearted, he lacked toughness.
The failure of the Hunchun battle made Qianlong deeply realize that if he wanted to fight an opponent like Zhao Xin, even if he was as powerful as Sauron's soldiers, he would be no match for him.
So his current strategy is to "kill the elephant when too many ants kill him". It will take him a few years to amass hundreds of thousands of troops, from Heilongjiang in the north to the Li Dynasty in the south. Several armies will attack at the same time. Let's see if Zhao Xin can take care of it!
Faced with such a tough opponent, Qianlong thought that as long as water transportation from the north to the south continued, and as long as taxes and taxes from various places continued to be collected, he could send troops batch by batch into the flesh and blood grinding mill outside the customs, and use national power to repeatedly crush his opponents.
On the morning of the third day after Qianlong moved, Yongyan, Heshen, Fu Changan and others returned from Tianjin. They went directly around the city to the Old Summer Palace. As soon as they handed over the sign, Qianlong immediately summoned them.
After carefully listening to everyone's reports and learning about the drills of the new water camp, Qianlong changed his plan and ordered all five second-class sailing gunboats anchored off Dagukou to be dispatched to fight in Liaodong.
In Qianlong's view, if there were not enough gunboats, he could buy more gunboats or build them in the south. This battle must be won to boost morale and let the world know that he was still the emperor and that the Qing Dynasty was stable.
And a very important point is that winning the battle can also deter the Han officials in the court and the literati in Jiangnan from making any changes.
To put it bluntly, the true meaning of Manchu rule in China is to "use the Han to control the Han, divide the Mongols, and the Eight Banners are the foundation of the country." If you want to control the Han people in the world, you must use Confucian etiquette, and etiquette cannot surpass the human heart; so
By aggressively recruiting cultural servants, it becomes inevitable to restrict ideas.
Heshen then proposed that, considering that some officers and soldiers of the water camp were not familiar with the operation of the new gunboats, more than 2,000 people from the East India Company and instructors from the British Admiralty could accompany them.
Yongyan expressed his opposition. Even if the rebellion was suppressed, it would still be the rebellion of the Qing Dynasty. How could foreigners be allowed to interfere? This is a matter of face!
He Shen retorted that the whole world is not the land of the king. Even if they are thousands of miles away, the British are still the emperor's ministers, so they will provide gunboats to the Qing Dynasty. Since they admire China and respect the emperor as the lord of the world,
What's the point of helping to fight at sea? Moreover, the emperor stated that this battle must be won, and it will be more secure with their help.
"These foreigners are all greedy people who don't know etiquette. What they want is nothing more than porcelain, tea, silk, rhubarb and other things from our Qing Dynasty. The British representative Macartney had always wanted to see him.
Tianyan, because he did not respect the etiquette of my heavenly dynasty, he did not get permission from his master.
The slave thinks that if he is asked to serve his master this time, it is better to slap him in the face and give him a sweet date to give him a break. If he helps us win, the master can allow him to come to the capital to watch the ceremony during the Wanshou Festival next year to show that the Celestial Empire is far away.
The way is to make all foreigners submissive."
Although Yongyan deliberately objected, Qianlong agreed and praised Heshen greatly. He then issued a message that Ji Huang, a scholar, was over eighty years old and had insufficient energy to take care of both. Agui had been in charge of the academy for more than ten years, and he also
Over seventy years old. All affairs of the Hanlin Academy’s bachelor’s degree are managed by He Shen and Peng Yuanrui.
Subsequently, Qianlong ordered Fu Chang'an, Minister of War, to be the imperial envoy and sit in Tianjin to supervise the war. At the same time, he notified the British to assist in the war. So Fu Chang'an, who had just returned to Beijing and was still not feeling hot, rushed to Tianjin with the imperial edict and a large group of subordinates.
Two days later, the former Governor of Madras, British envoy Macartney and representatives of the East India Company were extremely excited after receiving Qianlong's edict. The mysterious Qing Empire was finally opening its doors to them.
So after emergency internal consultations, the British agreed to the Qing government's "request" to let them go to sea to assist in operations. The reason why they agreed was that first of all, the people in the Navy wanted to know the details of the large iron ships in the North Sea at close range; secondly, they wanted to use this kind of
The way was to deepen cooperation with the Qing Empire and allow Britain to trade freely with China.
In fact, the British were also fed up. They had been staying on the five battleships these days, doing nothing but supervising and training every day. The Qing government did not allow them to land at all. Although food and drink were brought to them every day by dedicated personnel, and the quantities were large and sufficient.
They even sent a theater troupe to perform on the boat, but not being able to go anywhere was really depressing and driving people crazy.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! It is always good to have the opportunity to go out to sea and see the scenery of the northern coast of the Qing Empire. At least it is better than staying outside the mouth of Dagu. As for combat, the British started from above
At this point, no one thinks they will lose.
Just kidding! Five second-class sailing battleships with an average displacement of 2,200 tons and equipped with 100 cannons were dispatched together. They were invincible on the seas in this era.
So another day passed, after the Qing government used large and small ships to desperately complete the supply of food and drinking water, and after learning that the Northern Navy's fleet was still anchored at Fu Changxing Island for loading, the five warships raised their white sails and became murderous.
are dispatched...
Deng Fei and the others have been waiting in Fuzhou for five days. There is a lot of soybean inventory here, almost fifty thousand shi, and they were originally going to be shipped to Jinzhou one after another.
In order to prevent the Northern Navy from finding an excuse to launch artillery ashore, the county magistrate of Fuzhou and the Eight Banners garrison mobilized all ships to transport soybeans. However, as winter was approaching, almost all the big ships in the south were gone, leaving only a few small ships of two to three hundred shi.
In addition, the wind and waves are strong in winter and sailing is dangerous, so the transportation of soybeans to Changxing Island is much slower.
Deng Fei had no choice but to ask the Marine Battalion to move to the Thor, and let the smaller Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 be loaded first, and then send them back as soon as they were full, while he stayed at the end.
What makes the soybean merchants in Fuzhou find it most incredible is that the Beihai navy actually gave them money, and it was 30% higher than the market price. This was really pie in the sky.
After the merchants received the money, they found that they were silver coins minted by Beihai Town itself. Five coins were equivalent to one tael. They were surprised to find that these silver coins were extremely exquisite in appearance and each weighed exactly the same, so they could be used as weights.
But the question is who dares to spend this money? Many merchants secretly melted the silver coins and converted them into silver ingots after they returned home.
When the work of loading soybeans entered the sixth day, Fuzhou sent someone again, saying that the high-intensity transportation in recent days had made the ships overwhelmed and damaged, and the speed behind would be slower. Please be patient.
When Jiang Fan and Hong Liangji learned about it, they warned them to be careful of fraud. However, Deng Fei and Ding Guofeng disagreed. There were some people who played tricks on the Northern Navy, but in the end they all behaved under the threat of cannons, so they advised them to
no need to worry.
So the Leishen showed its fangs and bombarded the beach near the Empress' Palace. The rumbling explosions could be heard even in Fuzhou City.
Of course, Fuzhou was scared to death, but they had received an order from Xiong Yue and they had to delay the time. The imperial fleet would arrive soon. So they had people tamper with the ships transporting soybeans overnight to create an illusion.
Confuse your opponent.
Speaking of which, Beihai Town still had too few informants in the areas ruled by the Qing court. This had a lot to do with Zhao Xin's previous unwillingness to deal with Manchu scholars.
During the few days when the Northern Navy fleet was waiting on Changxing Island, the Kuai Ma military reports from Fuzhou to Xiong Yue were working around the clock, reporting on the movements of the Northern Navy at any time. Xiong Yue, on the other hand, arranged for the fast boats to go out to sea from the Xiong Yue River.
, report to Shanhaiguan.
It is said that once the Qing court's communication system was operating at full capacity, its energy was still quite large.
After setting off from Dagukou, the sailing fleet continued along the coastline and passed the Linhe estuary the next day. It was only more than 300 miles away from Shanhaiguan. Shanhaiguan received a 600-mile express from Fu Chang'an.
After the strict order, ships were quickly dispatched to continuously deliver the news obtained from Xiong Yue to the fleet.
In this way, a naval battle began where one side was prepared and the other was unprepared.
The joining of the British also forced Zhao Xin to turn his vigilant eyes to Southeast Asia while keeping an eye on Tsarist Russia and the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the Northern Navy had to extend its tentacles to Southeast Asia in advance.
It was midnight on October 23, the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign.
Five mountain-like sailing ships were moored quietly to the west of the estuary of the Xiongyue River. In the captain's room of one of them, which was given the name "Zhenbei" by Qianlong, a ceremony that would surely make the British stunned was being secretly carried out.
conduct.
"The sky is peaceful, the earth is peaceful. I am a lonely and empty god, and my actions are as I wish. God never leaves my side, and his movements are as ordered by law!"
In the spacious captain's cabin, all the tables and chairs have been moved away, leaving a large open space in the middle. On the floor are seven jujube soups, seven cents of money, seven cloud horses, incense lamps, five fruits, and a man wearing a
A man wearing a Taoist robe and a Taoist crown is holding a coin in both hands and chanting something.
The Taoist's left hand was painted with the "Guxu Three-Star Yellow Emperor Talisman". After throwing the money with his palms together, he wrote down the pros and cons, then took out another one from the small box in front of him, and continued to repeat the previous action.
After all the fifteen coins were invested, the ceremony finally came to an end. I heard the Taoist mutter: "Turn your back to Guxu and face Xiuxi. When marching out, you will not lose. I will now know Guxu's method. One soldier must be able to defeat the enemy."
Wanfu, I entrust you with the divine water from the Supreme Lord, and the curse is as urgent as the law."
At almost midnight, the boy servant under the command opened the door of the house, and several anxious Qing generals who had been waiting for a long time walked in.
The leader of the navy, Admiral Hardanga, stared at the Taoist priest with red eyes, "How?"
The Taoist priest handed over the written paper and said in a deep voice: "Xuhai is lonely, Chensi is empty, enter from the northwest, great victory!"
When several Qing generals heard this, their faces suddenly became happy.
This set of rituals is called "Guxu Shu", which is a military divination technique in ancient China. It is part of the military theory and has been used from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is often mentioned that a divination is performed before a battle.
, actually refers to this.
Ancient Chinese military strategists believed that the victory or defeat of a war was affected by God's will, so they had many taboos of their own. For example, when the territory was divided into the kingdom of Tai Sui, armies were not allowed to fight, and battles were not allowed on Jiazi Day, etc.
What does it mean? Ancient astronomy combined the positions of the twelve stars in the sky with the regions on the ground and the positions of countries. It is called "dividing stars" in astronomy and "dividing fields" in geography. If Tai Sui (Jupiter) comes to the enemy's
Where the country is, it cannot be attacked.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Guxu Shu" is an essential knowledge for ancient Chinese military strategists. For example, Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty was a "Jingfengjiao, Niaozhan, Yunxi,
The art of Guxu is a typical example of making good use of soldiers, and a large number of various divination deeds are also preserved in "The Art of War".
Through the divination of the Guxu technique, each or each group of the twelve earthly branches must determine its "solitary" and "virtual" directions. Next, as long as the appropriate age data is selected, the unique
The "isolated" and "virtual" directions are used to determine the main attack direction.
The "Tiger Seal Sutra" says that if the enemy is in a weak position and has been fighting for a long time without being defeated, he must not retreat, but if he attacks with all his strength, he will definitely win.
To put it bluntly, the Guxu technique is a divination technique used in the military field to choose the direction that is beneficial to defense or attack depending on the age. "Back to the Gu to attack the Xu" means starting from the "lone" position on the battlefield and heading toward the "Gu"
"Virtual" azimuth attack.
The most famous learner of Guxu Shu in history was Emperor Chen Wu, Chen Baxian. He not only studied it, but also believed in it, and particularly favored Wu Mingche and Zhou Hongzheng who were familiar with this type of numerology.
Huang Zongxi, a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, also mastered Guxu Technique and taught it to Wang Zhengzhong, who once created the calendar for Lu Jianguo. Huang Zongxi also sighed with emotion and said, "The scholar who Chuanwu Jue is the best? One person has an ear!"
However, the way of heaven in war is not astronomical phenomena, but its justice.
As the saying goes, "It will be useless if people do nothing well." Instead of relying on the divination of "repeatedly turning Kuigang Gang, frequently shifting Tai Sui, sitting on the white tiger, and greedy the wolf in making plans", it is better to do a good job in people's affairs.
There are many examples of defeats due to Guxu Technique in ancient history, but many people still believe it. This is mainly because since it requires sacrifice, Guxu Technique has a godhead. If you win with Guxu Technique, it will naturally be blessed by divine weapons and warlocks.
If there is merit; if it fails miserably, it means that you are not pious, or you are rejected by the gods, and it has nothing to do with the sorcerer or the magic itself.
This set of things was recorded in detail in the "Wu Bei Zhi" and "Secretary of the Participation" of the Ming Dynasty, and was included in the "Si Ku Quanshu", which shows how deeply rooted it was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
At about 4 o'clock in the morning the next day, heavy fog suddenly appeared on the sea. After hearing the news, Admiral Hardang'a of the Navy was overjoyed. He first burned incense and prayed, and then ordered people to notify all ships to sail to Changxing, 200 miles away.
Heading to the island.
Although the British on each ship felt strange, they also believed that the foggy weather was conducive to launching a surprise attack, so they did not object. However, Macartney, who was accompanying him, was really not satisfied. In addition to overlooking the Great Wall dominating the seaside,
Besides, I didn’t see anything along the way.
Of course, what they are looking forward to most right now is to see the long-rumored big iron ship.